(Denver, Colorado) — “The Turkish offensive into northern Syria is a dangerous military development. The emerging Russian-Iranian-Turkish alliance is a dangerous geopolitical development. And President Trump’s willingness to so easily abandon America’s Kurdish allies is a dangerous diplomatic development that could have serious domestic political repercussions if Trump and his team are not more careful.

I’m glad that VP Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo are heading to
the region to try to persuade Turkish President Erdogan to call off the
offensive. And Trump is now threatening Turkey with sanctions and saying
he will stand with the Kurds. But it’s far from certain this genie can
be put back in its bottle. It may prove too little too late.

Recip Erdogan is not a serious, trustworthy ally. He’s a monster who
wants to rebuild the Ottoman Empire. He us an Islamist who supports
Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood terror movements. A few years ago, he
arrested upwards of 200,000 Turks in a brazen crackdown on his political
enemies. He’s allowed thousands of ISIS terrorists to criss-cross his
territory unchecked. Now, his forces are killing Kurds, creating a new
refugee crisis, and further destabilizing the disaster in Syria that was
created by Bashar Assad, Vladimir Putin and the Iranians. I struggle to
understand how Erdogan is still a member of NATO.

In his initial phone call with Erdogan before the invasion, President
Trump should have made it crystal clear that he would not tolerate a
Turkish attack on the Kurds. Unfortunately, Trump gave Erdogan every
impression it wouldn’t be a problem, even ordering all US military
forces in the area to leave.

A few days ago, I spoke with Amir Tibon, an Israeli reporter for Haaretz, who was stunned that various Evangelical leaders, myself included, were speaking out so strongly on the subject. I thought you might be interested in reading the full article, as well as excerpts.”